Want to know in detail what you spend on groceries?

[altminer]

Posted a similar thread to mybroadband but not much interest there.

Basically, our grocery bills are crazy high and we don't know why. Apps like 22seven can tell you that you spent R10k on groceries, but not what you bought for that 10k.

So, as a software developer, I thought, why not process my Checkers Sixty60 emails into a database? And then why not OCR my till slips from in store, and add that into the database too?

It turns out that things are much more complicated than that (state of the art OCR is really disappointing on this point!), but I ended up with something that kind of works for me. And so it occurred to me that there must be other people who need to find ways to save a few hundred (or a thousand?) bucks on their grocery bills.

I set up a site with some further details (basically, you send the service scans or emails of receipts, and the service processes them for you, then provides a report). I'm mostly a lurker so I'm not sure if I can post a link here? Either way, if you're interested then please DM me so that I can provide further info.

 

[10bucchr]

Interesting! I am uber nerd about it and literally add a line to my excel tracking sheet for every trip to the shops / online purchase. Put what I bought under details and split the amount into different categories. Takes about 2mins per day (I just leave the workbook open on my computer)

 

[bythecantloads]

How many members in the family?

We are only two members in the household and we do one big haul at the start of each month which is max R2k and then we buy freshies during the month when needed, can't see that those are more than R1.5k a month, but haven't actually totalled those.

 

[pɐlΛ‾pɐq‾ƃᴉq]

Look at IBM Cloud Pak OCR. We have very low failure rates with them

 

[altminer]

Look at IBM Cloud Pak OCR. We have very low failure rates with them

IBM makes it way too complicated. I'll stick with AWS.

 

[alfodr]

Always more than what I budget for, or guess... Be it - 3 bags at Spar, or a Trolley at PnP, or a basket at Whoolies... almost 1.5 - 2 X on average, always...
My solution is more rudimentary: Do not take a basket anymore, you will only carry what is really important

 

[Andrew_Smith]

Is there perhaps a GitHub Repo for this yet?

I like the idea.

Also, if I may ask, how many people are you? R10k is not small change.

 

[TheJudge]

Itemised would be interesting, we work on around R10k a month so being able to filter and compare would be fascinating.

 

[altminer]

Is there perhaps a GitHub Repo for this yet?

I like the idea.

Also, if I may ask, how many people are you? R10k is not small change.

Sorry, not intending to make this open source. 3 hoomans, 2 dogs.

 

[altminer]

Itemised would be interesting, we work on around R10k a month so being able to filter and compare would be fascinating.

It is very useful and surprising to see what you spend your money on! It's just taking a bit of time to turn my jumble of scripts into something user friendly for the average person.

EDIT: What we are doing is literally just saying "let's cut each of the top 10 categories by R100/month" and that's a R1 000 savings. Obviously it's easy to go over these limits if you don't pay close attention - hence the software to alert us.

 

[Dom]

How many members in the family?

We are only two members in the household and we do one big haul at the start of each month which is max R2k and then we buy freshies during the month when needed, can't see that those are more than R1.5k a month, but haven't actually totalled those.

Maybe they can create something & you review it?

 

[bythecantloads]

Maybe they can create something & you review it?

I can't review children? But apps will be cool.

 

[altminer]

I can't review children? But apps will be cool.

Thought it was just me that was confused 😅

 

[Dom]

I can't review children? But apps will be cool.

Of course you can review children - it is a key faucet of the internet that applies to all.

 

[TheJudge]

My wife has been in America for three weeks. I think the shopping bill has halved and I've lost 4kg too. The boys haven't stopped eating though but I'm making them work for it... soon my new line of shoes will hit the market but the boys still need to learn to add the actual laces.